There are many formats for various digital media files which include sound, video, and presentation files. Many of these formats are dependent on the type of software in which the media file was created. For example, a very popular presentation software program called POWERPOINT® created by Microsoft corporation for the personal computer was developed and marketed in the early 1990s. This presentation program integrated text, pictures, diagrams, and graphs into a set of frames, commonly called “slides,” which could be “played” back sequentially either manually or timed to create a presentation. In the first embodiments, the capabilities of this software were limited; however, with the progress of computing power, memory and digital media compression techniques, the presentation software began to assist in developing traditional business presentations.
The POWERPOINT® and other software system is represented by prior art FIG. 1. Other integrated presentation software was made by other manufacturers such as Claris (CLARIS, etc.), Harvard Graphics, and Persuasion. A typical presentation consists of 3 active screens 100, 120, and 140 and two pause screens 110 and 130 over five time periods T1-T5. Screen 100 is composed of text 102 and a picture 104, screen 120 is composed of a picture 122 and a graph 124, screen 140 is composed of a histogram 142 and a body of text 144.
As demand for information increased, multimedia presentation software programs began to replace some more traditional forms of media like print and video and even the in-person business presentation. Needless to say, with the advancement of the Internet, graphics, text, sound and video presentations, demand increased for information services. Although a presentation file could be downloaded from an Internet site or sent via email, presentation software like Powerpoint® could not be displayed over the Internet in a multimedia format.
Although Powerpoint® now has a built-in feature which allows a user to add a sound file to an individual frame, this add-in procedure requires that the user will have broken up each sound file into the appropriate length for the frame. This procedure can be extraordinarily time consuming and require an average user to develop advanced multimedia production skills in order to add a simple sound file to a “slide.”
Other multimedia software such as QUICKTIME® developed by Apple computer, REAL PLAYER®, developed by Real Networks or MICROSOFT MEDIA PLAYER® developed by Microsoft can integrate digital video and sound while making a media file accessible over the Internet. However, these proprietary formats must be created by complicated multimedia editing software programs. Quicktime® can also incorporate many times of media file formats into the Quicktime® file, presented on the Internet. However, these files must all be extensively authored and incorporated manually by a Quicktime® authoring software user. A Quicktime® file creation schematic is depicted in FIG. 2. A virtual player is typically composed of a screen 150 a virtual viewing area 152 and virtual controls 154 which control the direction and speed of the video or presentation.
There are currently computer software products which allow for some conversion of digital video and audio media in an authoring capacity only. Such software products are prohibitively expensive for consumers and extremely complex to learn and generally designed for multimedia production professionals only. An example of this is MEDIA CLEANER® published by Media 100, Inc., represented by FIG. 3. This multimedia computer program allows a web professional to take digital videos in several basic formats and turn it into a specific digital video format appropriate for web publishing and streaming.
Media 100 also has software which converts digital audio with digital sound (Data translation of Marlboro, Mass. currently holds U.S. Pat. No. 5,506,932, a system for synchronizing digital video to digital audio) which is represented by FIG. 4. However, such software tools meant for authoring Internet multimedia documents and are geared towards use by highly trained multimedia professionals. Other similar computer software programs allow digital video to be put into the Quicktime®, Microsoft Media Player® and Real® or MP4 formats. The proprietary nature of these software authoring products is useful for the media production professional, but is clearly not designed for the average consumer needing a multimedia business presentation quickly and inexpensively.
Additionally, these multimedia computer programs use virtual media software called “players” and need to be installed onto a personal computer in order to play back the proprietary multimedia files. Often these players are very large computer programs which have to be downloaded from a proprietary Internet site or installed by CD-ROM. Most of the products cost money and take time to download. Although Internet connections are getting faster, if a viewer does not have a particular proprietary media player installed on their computer they may not wait to take the necessary steps to view a presentation. For example, if a business wanted to place a promotional multimedia digital file on its Internet site, they would need at least three formats because the different multimedia formats are not compatible with each other and must be posted and downloaded separately in order to reach a variety of customers using the various software formats, such as Real, Windows Media, Quicktime, etc. This could be extraordinarily expensive and time consuming as well as create an Internet site that uses more computer memory and looks confusing.
Not only does dependence on one type of multimedia format give rise to logistical problems in getting multimedia information to consumers, there are also serious antitrust and free market considerations as well. These software market problems may severely limit the ability of consumers to choose the media format they most prefer as opposed to the media player format that currently dominates the software market.
Currently, there are many types of digital media formats, which can be divided into proprietary software formats and platform formats. Proprietary software formats can only be utilized by a specific company software, like the Real® and Window Media® “players” described above. In contrast, platform formats are software format standards usually developed by a group of industry experts. Such media formats include JPEG, MP3, etc. and usually cost nothing to use, because they are developed in the “open platform” setting. The Internet presentation languages XML and DHTML are languages that have been developed in an “open platform” setting and are therefore free for programmers to use (although programmers in these languages may choose to purchase a particular version).
It is important to note that unlike popular word processing computer programs or spreadsheet computer programs, there are not easy conversion options for these multimedia player files. Therefore, a Microsoft Word® computer program will be able to open a Wordperfect® document, but a Real player® will not be able to open a Quicktime® or Powerpoint® file for viewing.
In addition to the commercially available multimedia formats, several companies offer software products in which a viewer can use the company's own “player” to view a multimedia file. In almost all instances, this is the only way in which the final digital media format can be viewed. Companies that are using this type of technology include: Digital Lava, Eloquent, Brainshark, Loudeye, and Presenter.com.
Instant Presentation™ developed by Presenter.com, is a product that allows a consumer to integrate voice/sound with a Powerpoint™ presentation. In contrast to the present invention, the voice/sound file is integrated by telephone and therefore in limited in the number of ways that sound be applied to the presentation. The 2.0 version of INSTANT PRESENTATION™ appears to have some customizing capabilities for presentations and allows a consumer to track the amount of times the presentation has been viewed. However, the INSTANT PRESENTATION™ product does not break down digital media into components, but captures images as a whole, which limits the types of conversions that this product may perform and the number of “players” that this product supports.
Digital Lava produces a multi-media product called “FIRE STREAM,” which runs on an open-ended architecture. This product allows multiple media technologies can be integrated and the HOTFOOT™ product from Digital Lava integrates sound and animation for Powerpoint® which can then be accessed by a viewing consumer. Like the above-discussed INSTANT PRESENTATION™ this product does not break down a digital media file into its low-level constituent components and is therefore limited in the number of types of conversions that it can perform. Eloquent appears to be using an open ended architecture for a “rich media” player. This software product is limited in the same way the above products in that it does not break down the digital media file. The end multimedia product created by this software must be viewed on a large Eloquent player plug-in. This product does not appear to have a fully automated solution which will allow self-service recording to turn into an Internet ready presentation. The Brainshark™ product is limited in the same manner that it does not decompose a file into the constituent components, even though it allows a user to record a voice over the phone to synchronize to a Powerpoint® presentation.
Loudeye's MEDIA SYNDICATOR, is introduced as both a product and a service. Also, it looks like it is primarily designed to sell and distribute streaming media to consumers for syndication and consumption through e-commerce, which is not in the same industry as the present invention, nor is a conversion system. Real Producer® is another software product that will allow delivery of a presentation, but it will create output for only one type of player.
As would be appreciated by one skilled in the art, the above discussed products require more bandwidth to execute the delivery of presentations because the non-decomposed files require more bandwidth than files that have been broken down into their base components.
What is needed is a combination of software and hardware which can automatically break down a variety of digital media into component elements such as text, fonts, shapes, pictures, videos, etc., especially animations, so that the digital component data can be recreated in a multiple of presentation formats for various viewing devices, such as web browsers, PDAs, set top boxes, and mobile telephones. In addition, this combination of software and hardware should not absolutely require proprietary software or absolutely require a viewing consumer to have the viewer or plug-in in order to see a digital media presentation. What is also needed is a method for treating a digital media presentation so that the bandwidth needed to deliver such presentations is reduced.